Smart Play Home School Group

THURSDAY, SEPT. 20, 2007

2 SCIENCE - more on friction and gravity. read about Isaac Newton and how was always reading and became an inventor. He discovered gravity by watching an apple fall out of a tree. I asked the boys what they would invent if they could. Isaac would invent an air tank that never runs out of air. David would invent a way to carry water up to Mars. Holden would invent a real Indian village. we talked about how these could all be used together on Mars because it doesn't have oxygen or water - once the inventions are made Holden could build his village there. they are fascinated by what life would be like without friction or gravity. we did an experiment dropping a piece of paper and marker - the paper takes longer to hit the ground because it has more surface and therefore more friction with the air. we rolled the paper up and it dropped at the same time as the marker. did an experiment shaking a can of sand and finding that the friction of the sand rubbing on itself created heat. i told them we would do an experiment making fire with friction next week at my house. they were very good listeners.

K SCIENCE - learned about the difference between living and nonliving things. they had great reasons for why things are alive - God made us, we have eyes and mouths and ears. 4 questions to ask to find out if something is alive or not - does it eat? drink water? need air? grow and move on its own? they didn't remember these at all for the assessment (except for Nadia) - and it was so cute. they all said they know something is living if it has eyes, ears, etc. even though we talked alot about plants being living things. they really liked the book we read - Ranae you might want to get it out for Quinn "what's alive?" it was a good day.
Cindy - Nadia didn't have her point folder - all 5's.

Rachelle